A known sunroof for a vehicle is generally equipped with a sunshade, which is provided on a vehicle interior side of a lid for opening or closing an opening in a roof, to block sunlight in cases where the lid is formed by transparent or semi-transparent material.
Recently, more vehicles include large openings in a roof for the purposes of receiving more daylight. Then, a sunshade consisting of multiple panels (for example, 2 panels) that correspond to a size of the opening, and slide along the roof is provided to such vehicles. The sunshade is constituted such that the sunshade is moved between a deployed state in which panels are arranged side by side and a retracted state in which the panels are retracted by overlapping each other.
Such a sunshade disclosed in DE10327313A1 is explained with reference to FIGS. 10 to 12 showing a state in which the sunshade including two panels are moved from a deployed state to a retracted state.
In cases where a sunshade 1 is in the deployed state, as shown in FIG. 10, an engaging portion 2a formed on a slider 2 of a first panel engages, in a sliding direction, with a protruding portion 3a formed on a slider 3 of a second panel. At this time, a pushing face 2b of the engaging portion 2a of the slider 2 and the protruding portion 3a of the slider 3 are in contact with each other. That is, the first panel presses, by means of the pushing face 2b, the second panel in the sliding direction (i.e. rightward direction in FIGS. 10 to 12) so that the first panel and the second panel slide as a unit.
When the sunshade 1 slides to a predetermined position in the sliding direction, a cam portion 3b formed on the slider 3 of the second panel is made contact with a guide face 4. In such circumstances, when the first panel presses the second panel in the sliding direction, the cam portion 3b is guided upward (i.e. upper side in FIGS. 10 to 12) along the guide face 4. Then, as shown in FIG. 11, the slider 3 of the second panel is lifted upward relative to the slider 2 of the first panel.
When the first panel further presses the second panel in the sliding direction, the slider 3 of the second panel is lifted, by means of the cam portion 3b and the guide face 4, further upward relative to the slider 2 of the first panel. Then, the protruding portion 3a of the slider 3 disengages from the engaging portion 2a of the slider 2. Accordingly, the slider 3 of the second panel disengages from the slider 2 of the first panel in the sliding direction, thereby causing the first panel to be slidable relative to the second panel. The first panel slides into a lower side of the second panel (i.e. lower side in FIGS. 10 to 12) and thus the second panel overlaps the first panel. The retracted state is achieved accordingly.
According to the aforementioned sunshade, the slider 3 of the second panel is lifted upward relative to the slider 2 of the first panel since the cam portion 3b of the slider 3 is guided to the guide face 4. The slider 3 of the second panel eventually disengages from the slider 2 in the sliding direction. In this case, while the slider 3 disengages completely from the slider 2, the cam portion 3b of the slider 3 is kept pressed against the guide face 4. Thus, a large friction is generated between the cam portion 3b and the guide face 4. Further, the protruding portion 3a of the slider 3 is lifted upward while the protruding portion 3a is pressed against the pushing face 2b of the slider 2. Thus, a large friction is also generated between the protruding portion 3a and the pushing face 2b. As a result, the upward movement of the slider 3 of the second panel relative to the slider 2 of the first panel (i.e. retracting operation) may be prevented by such a friction portion.
Thus, a need exists for a sunshade device that can realize a smooth retracting operation.